Hi all
I've come to this forum a few times to research for my tw trip but have never posted anything. Since I've engaged 小奕's services last week, I thought I'd give my 2 cents worth. (Sorry for the lengthy post ahead!)
I booked him after a friend's recommendation for 2 days in Taichung with 3 friends. I asked him for recommendations in itinerary then replaced some of the suggestions with my own. He wasn't too pushy when I rejected his suggestion. Some of the places I wanted to go were too far apart so we agreed on a rough plan with compromise. My final itinerary was Day 1: pick-up from Taichung HSR > Moncoeur > Gao Mei Wetlands > dinner > Yi Zhong shopping > Sunyard minsu. Day 2: Minsu > buy tai yang bing > Carton King n Little Swiss Garden > lunch > Cingjing farm > 18deg Chocolate > Fengjia night market > dinner > hotel.
I was quoted NT$7000 for the 2 days. Though he later said through whatsapp that 1 day was usually 8 hrs and NT$4000 for 10 hrs. In the end I said we will talk in detail about extending when we are there. Then he asked if I had paid for the minsu and when I said no, he kept recommending me to change to stay in Taichung city hotel as it was cheaper and more convenient for shopping. He said that the minsu was up in the mountain in Shinshe and it would be boring with nothing to do. I was a little irritated but I was firm about it and he backed off eventually.
I found our trip with him to be quite pleasant. He was young in his mid-twenties and we could talk like friends. He did tell us about his full schedule but did not boast too much about it. But I think cos of his age and the way he talk, he may come across as arrogant. But he was always early before our meeting time and waited patiently for us and also offered to take pictures for us at places. The food places he brought us too were all very good too. He helped me to call the minsu to confirm my booking and tell them we would be late and also shared his hp hotspot with us. After he sent us to the minsu on the first night, we agreed that it was far and also inconvenient to return to the city ourselves on the 3rd day. We took up his suggestion and he helped us booked the family room at Plaza hotel at a discounted rate. We were really satisfied with the location and size of the room. He had serviced us for around 10+13 hrs for the 2 days. I think he wasn't too strict on the timing and didn't complain even if if it was too long. As I didn't talk about the final price with him, we decided to give him NT$8000 instead of the quoted NT$7000. We gave him the money at the end of 2 days and he didn't even count the money before leaving. After that he called me and asked why we gave him so much and he bought breakfast to our room the next day before meeting his next clients.
I was with him the night one of his customers messaged him to cancel after reading the forum. He was anxious and asked me to search for the posts and translate to him. That was how he knew what was written here. I hoped that I did not mistranslate anything cos my chinese is not perfect too. I shared my sentiments with him from a customer's point of view and he admitted that he was also in the wrong about not keeping his promise. But he said that he had provided a replacement driver and it was upon the customer's approval. He said that if he flew pole's aeroplane it would not do him any good and he can't get money too. He has only been in this line for less than a year and I hope he would learn from this experience.
I haven't tried any other drivers and I'm sure there would be better ones. He may still be inexperienced in handling things and also introducing the places. But I think he has fulfilled his duties as a driver well and overall I'm satisfied with his service.
Hi,
I had an enjoyable time for my trip to taichung with the same driver too!
Shall share what's good and what's bad for this driver. (Personal opinion yea.)
Pros:
Provides free hotspot on the go. Especially youngsters like us love to use 3G to be connected to friends even though we are overseas. This is really a bonus for me as the taiwan 3G SIM card doesn't come cheap.
Punctual. And in fact he reach half hour earlier before our agreed time. This is really important for us travelers as every minute is a cost to us as we have limited days overseas. His punctuality helps us to go with schedule and not miss out on places that we want to visit.
Lengthened travel time. Our travel time eats late into the night and he did not charge us extra. He can choose to charge us like any other cabbies but he did not. This is a deal for me as I am traveling on a budget. Who will reject good bargains right. It really helps me to complete my travel as planned.
Free photographer. He will help us take photos at various tourist spots. It saves the hassle to ask random passerby to help us take group photos everytime we see somewhere nice and wanna take photos.
He also help us contact our hotel when we are late for check-in. Technically speaking it's none of his business but he still offered his help to contact the hotel owner to extend our check in time so we won't be stranded outside without keys.
Nice food. Omg I really must say that he brought us to the best beef noodle stall I ever had at taiwan! The beef is so tender and soft! And I love the souppp! And it's very cheap! Totally must try if you're a beef lover. There are other food of cos at your request. By the way the beef noodle is I just happen to say I love beef noodles then he bring us to find it, not included in the itinerary! Bonus again!
Cons:
He may be overly talkative sometimes but I realized it's the Taiwanese culture. I am okay with that actually cause it's boring to ride long rides when you're feeling awkward with the driver. I am sure you can ask him to give you some peace if you're not interested in his topics.
He may try to persuade you to go to nice local places that is not in our desired itinerary. I guess this is something that everyone is not satisfied with, including me. But come to think of it, sometimes what we plan ourselves, it is really out of the way and we may waste too much precious time traveling. So I guess it's no harm to try out local places that are nice. Just firmly say no if you're really not interested. Like for my case I insisted no museums or temples and we never step foot into any.
He only understand Chinese which may be a challenge for some of us to communicate with him. But I find it normal for traveling. Like if we go Japan or Korea, we also don't understand their language also can't blame them.
And now to share the places that I have visited in Taichung & Nantou,
Day 1. Travelled from Kaohsiung to Taichung. Reached by Taichung HSR in the morning, took a long time to find the hostel/minsu at Taichung. I stay near Fengjia Nightmarket. Start the cab ride in the afternoon to Xitou Monster Village. (Nice place for kids as the whole place is monster themed with a tinge of Japanese feel) Then we went to buy the famous Taichung tai yang ping (In my opinion the one at Taipei Jiufen is better) Then we went to Yi Zhong Nightmarket. (Definitely a good place to shop for youngsters - better than Wufenpu in Taipei in my opinion.) Then we went to Fengjia Nightmarket to shop and eat more!
Day 2. Travel to CingJing Farm at Nantou to watch the sheep and horse performance! (The place is soooooo nice with the country feel. If you don't believe just google it!) Then we went to Paper Dome. (In my opinion there's nothing much. -.- ) After we went to Puli Brewery just to grab some nice honey cake! (Don't wanna waste time looking at wine containers. :/ ) Then we went to 18 degree C to buy chocolate. (Go if you're a chocolate lover cos there are super long queue.) Then we went to Carton King and I like it very much! All the structures are made of paper and it's unique. (Can spam photos there) Then we went to eat the beef noodle! (Omg try it if you can! No regrets!) Then after we went for Karaoke (The place have super big room for singing and cheap! Not like sg.) and then to the pub!
Day 3. Travel to Summit Resort! (The place is super pretty and big! It's Eurasian feel with castle-like structures! There are lots of pretty flowers too! Bring mozzie repellent cos flowers attracts bugs!) Then Xiao Yi treats us to this dessert called 東東芋園! Thankful for it as we get to try new food! Then we went for Teppanyaki lunch. Then we went to Houli Hua Shi. (The flowers there are super pretty! A place for photoshoot! Must go if you love flowers! ) Then to Gaomei Wetlands. (Personally I really like this place as we can walk on the muddy wetlands and just enjoy playing with water and look at the pretty sunset). And that ends my journey at Taichung and I went to Taipei next.
Hopefully the review can help forumer out there. Basically I had a fun time at Taichung and thanks to Xiao Yi for the good drive! Don't lose trust in him if you happened to book him cause I really have no regrets.

And my itinerary is I insist to go to those places even though it's out of the way, abit regret should have listened to his expertise I guess I would have save more time! :/